If your work's not what you love, then something isn't right
Today, Gawker reports on a junior staffer at a publishing house who got fired for saying catty things about her coworkers in her blog.
I'll admit it, there was once a time when I was not quite so judicious about what I posted about my workplace on the Internet. Back in the summer and fall of 2001, I painstakingly chronicled every single thing I hated about my job on a daily basis. This was even around the time of the MediaBistro "Bitch Box" scandal that got a Hearst EA fired. (Said former Hearst EA is now the editor-in-chief of Playgirl - proof that you always have an opportunity to learn from your mistakes and press on, I suppose.) I was lucky this did not get me in trouble. As I've become more media-savvy, and as blogs have taken off, I've taken a step back from talking about specific details about my professional life because I know what's good for me.
However, as a variation on the blogging-about-your-job theme, I'd like to take a moment to give my day job a little nicemodernist spin.
Full disclosure: I currently work in publishing. You've heard of my company. (Okay, most of you reading this know me, so you know damn well where I work. Hell, my coworkers read this.) It does have a bit of a reputation for cultivating an attitude of icy, heartless bitchery, but you should all know that on the whole, this has most definitely not been my experience.
My company, for all the negative press it gets, is surprisingly generous. I have an amazing benefits package and practically more vacation than I can use in a year, plus all sorts of perks like discounts and beauty sales and holiday party invites. My coworkers are incredibly smart (just ask all the people whose asses we've kicked at Tuesday Trivia) and, for the most part, awesome to work with.
As for the nature of the work itself, it's nothing to sneeze at either. It's not the most exciting job in the world, but I like it enough to have stayed on for two and a half years with no signs of quitting on the horizon. Hey, I get to make spreadsheets and wield a giant library stamp, and I've amused myself with less. It'll do until I sell the book, and if Neal Pollack's experience (which I know he documented for Salon.com once upon a time, but I can't find the article right now) is any indicator, I'll probably still be at this company long after I sell the book, being that not every novelist gets a Dan Brown-sized advance.
This is the last word I'll say in this blog about my job, but I figured it's about time the media industry got a little bit of good press.
I'll admit it, there was once a time when I was not quite so judicious about what I posted about my workplace on the Internet. Back in the summer and fall of 2001, I painstakingly chronicled every single thing I hated about my job on a daily basis. This was even around the time of the MediaBistro "Bitch Box" scandal that got a Hearst EA fired. (Said former Hearst EA is now the editor-in-chief of Playgirl - proof that you always have an opportunity to learn from your mistakes and press on, I suppose.) I was lucky this did not get me in trouble. As I've become more media-savvy, and as blogs have taken off, I've taken a step back from talking about specific details about my professional life because I know what's good for me.
However, as a variation on the blogging-about-your-job theme, I'd like to take a moment to give my day job a little nicemodernist spin.
Full disclosure: I currently work in publishing. You've heard of my company. (Okay, most of you reading this know me, so you know damn well where I work. Hell, my coworkers read this.) It does have a bit of a reputation for cultivating an attitude of icy, heartless bitchery, but you should all know that on the whole, this has most definitely not been my experience.
My company, for all the negative press it gets, is surprisingly generous. I have an amazing benefits package and practically more vacation than I can use in a year, plus all sorts of perks like discounts and beauty sales and holiday party invites. My coworkers are incredibly smart (just ask all the people whose asses we've kicked at Tuesday Trivia) and, for the most part, awesome to work with.
As for the nature of the work itself, it's nothing to sneeze at either. It's not the most exciting job in the world, but I like it enough to have stayed on for two and a half years with no signs of quitting on the horizon. Hey, I get to make spreadsheets and wield a giant library stamp, and I've amused myself with less. It'll do until I sell the book, and if Neal Pollack's experience (which I know he documented for Salon.com once upon a time, but I can't find the article right now) is any indicator, I'll probably still be at this company long after I sell the book, being that not every novelist gets a Dan Brown-sized advance.
This is the last word I'll say in this blog about my job, but I figured it's about time the media industry got a little bit of good press.
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